30 for 30. Have you heard of it? Well, I am very very late in the game as I have only just discovered it a few weeks ago. 30 for 30 is a fashion challenge created by fashion blogger Kendi of Kendi Everyday. The concept is simple. Don’t go shopping for 30 days. Instead, pick out 30 items from your closet (and no more!) and remix the heck out of them to create a different outfit every day for….you guessed it, 30 days (or thereabouts). The 30 items can be any combination of tops, skirts, pants, jeans, sweaters, jackets, shoes and so on. Things like tights, belts, scarves and other accessories are freebies. (Thank the lawed!)

After Kendi first introduced the challenge last April, there have been scads of other bloggers following suit. The last challenge of the year just finished up mid-December. It’s probably a good thing I didn’t know about this sooner because I would have just moped around complaining about my very limited and fairly unstylish maternity wardrobe. I, apparently, I wasn’t all that keen on making an effort or rather spending the dough to make an effort.

Now that I no longer have a gigantic belly to contend with, I’m eager to take this challenge on for myself. Before I got pregnant last year, my personal style had been taking a major shift and I had been excited to start the year off working on thoughtfully overhauling my closet. I had found some sweet after-Christmas deals and finally had success thrifting a bunch of new items I was going to introduce when-lo and behold-the pee stick (PMF*) said “yes, you’re preggo!”. That was at the beginning of February. 11 months later, I’m still looking longingly at most of those thrifted finds as I work to get rid of the rest of Finn’s baggage, i.e. baby fat. I don’t mind it. It’s fun to slowly but surely fit (read: squeeze) back into some old things. For this reason, I think I need to wait at least another month, if not two before I take the 30 for 30 challenge. After all, I haven’t even started my workout routine back up since, oh….LAST January. Yeah. We’re not going to get into that.

For now, I’m working on cleaning out my closet to get rid of everything I’ve been tight-fisting for the past 6 years. At some point you just have to say, see-ya-later-circa-2005-periwinkle-twill-jacket-from-Old Navy. After this purge, I’m not even sure I will have 30 solid items to remix but we shall see.

Go check out Kendi’s 30 for 30 remixes and see what all the fuss is about.

*By the way, I have decided to use “PMF” (pardon my french) for whenever I say something slightly off color.

It’s coming. I’ve been sticking my head out the door all day long in hopes that the air would be just a bit cooler. Not yet. It’s still just as humid and dank as ever. But the rain has picked up again and I’m pretty sure it is going to flush all that nastiness away. Were I to have the good fortune of going anywhere this weekend (and I just may), I would have a bit of a dilemma on my hands.

You see, as hot blooded as I am naturally, pregnant, post-partum, or not, a girl’s still gotta keep warm in 50 degree weather. By that logic, I ought not be ashamed that in the past 9 months I have purchased no fewer than 5 jackets. Five. Jackets. In Florida. Okay, I suppose that IS shameful. Why would I need to add 5 more jackets to the overstuffed collection of jackets I already own? I don’t know. It’s sick. A sickness, in fact. It is especially unfortunate that during all this jacket-buying frenzy I did not have the foresight to purchase at least one that would actually fit me now. No no no! Instead, I thought to myself “What?!?! I’ll only be pregnant for 9 (or 10) months, meaning that I, of course, should purchase the XS”. Ha. Ha ha. Ha ha ha. I didn’t know very much back then, did I?

So anyways (it’s my blog and I can say “So anyways….”), now we are facing the first legitimately cold weekend of the season and despite the fact that, realistically, I will probably be cozied up at home with the baby, I am still thinking “I have nothing to wear!”. (Not true, so very not true.) Wait a minute! Hark! What’s that I hear? My Groupon to the Gap is calling my name. I’m afraid I will have to be supervised on that shopping trip. My explicit instructions: No more from Baby Gap and absolutely NO. MORE. JACKETS.

I guess having a baby has made me no less interested in fashion just more aware of how low it ranks on the importance totem pole. In any case, how cute is this daily-wear-able from Orchid Grey???

I tried on a pair of fun shorts like these from my closet yesterday. The shorts? They mocked me and I couldn’t protest.

Maybe what I would wear if I weren’t multiple sizes larger than I used to be at the moment.

(Obviously, not all at once.)

In the immortal words of King Curtis “I’m comin’ to the edge.” In fact, I’m quite certain that I could not feel any more rotund. The pregnancy waddle is a REAL and disturbing phenomenon. Trust me, it can’t be good when just trying on your MATERNITY pants sends you into a franticly claustrophobic, oh-my-gawd-I’m-going-to-have-to-cut-myself-out-of-these, tizzy. My darling, growing child has now relegated me to one, count that ONE pair of pants I can comfortably breathe in. Tops and t-shirts are now down to the dirty half-dozen, or less. I’ve tried scrounging around in my husband’s closet for anything that will fit over the bump, only, he likes his tees tighter than tight. Uggh! XL never sounded so appealing. But don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining, more like stating facts. Besides, who really cares if I look like a hobo for the next 2-3 weeks. (Or 5. Worst. Case. Scenario.) Our little boy will be here soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, that deserves a lot of exclamation points. Perhaps when my body settles itself back down I will one day wear clothing like this again, maybe with a few burp cloths strewn across the shoulder.

LOVE these canvas totes. I want the gray or mustard color. Or every color.

These hair accessories from Whippy Cake are cute. I wonder if I could make something similar myself.

This is the diaper bag we registered for. I love the colors and I’m a sucker for geometric patterns.

Sure, this bag is colorful and patterned and obviously says “diaper bag”. (Which is why it’s probably ok for Dave to carry it around proudly.) As someone who uses Vera Bradley bags, I tend not to care when my Vera bag inevitably doesn’t match 80% of my clothing. (This is the great mystical power that Vera Bradley has over it’s consumers. Fashion sense, better judgment, and an overall understanding of when something just doesn’t “work” is thrown out the window if you’re a VB owner. And on a completely unrelated note, have you seen the new VB “Slate Blooms” pattern???)

Still, I wonder if I will ever truly be happy using this diaper bag. Will it hold everything I need it to? Will I use it instead of a regular purse for my personal belongings? Will it fall apart after 6 months? Will I actually ever leave the house after baby? Will Dave look just as manly carrying it around? Will it bring me lifelong fulfillment and satisfaction? I know these questions and many more are going to be left unanswered until experience can speak up for the matter. For now, this Skip Hop Dash Deluxe is a winner. But…

There’s another option/idea/two-birds-to-kill-with-one-stone-concept. What if..what IF I could have a diaper bag that could ALSO ( and incredibly, fantastically, majestically even) hold my camera?? No not the point and shoot camera, silly, the BIG camera. With a lens attached. And maybe another lens too. Wouldn’t that be something?

The Kelly Moore “Boy Bag” might be the thing. It comes in this ruggedly sexy brown number and…

…this little mustard delight. Be still my heart.

From the inside shot, it would seem that this bag could do double duty as both a camera protecting tote and a diapers-and-other-baby-stuff-catch all. But for $200 (that’s 9 months of Chick-Fil-A, people!!!) I can’t help but wonder if I couldn’t just go to any department store (forget that, MARSHALLS) and find something similar that I could customize with padding for at least half if not a fraction of that cost. Bonus points are given to the Kelly Moore “Boy Bag” for being, well, boy friendly. As in, Dave would probably look absolutely mantastic carrying this around.

I also found the “Missy Bag” by Jo Totes. It costs less than half what the KM bag costs and it has even more room for the camera/lens/diaper combo. Just look at all that space in there!! Seriously.

I like that this bag is black and certainly more affordable but it gets major points deducted for looking exactly like a purse. Great for me of course, but not great at all for Dave to be saddled with. Yes, Dave sometimes holds my Vera Bradley tote for me. He doesn’t seem to mind and he holds his head high (probably to avoid making eye contact with strangers). Still, I don’t want my husband to have to carry around a purse. Come. On.

I suppose I could always carry around my own purse, the Skip Hop diaper bag, AND my $20 falling-apart camera bag. I have shoulders of steel, I can handle it. But wouldn’t order be restored to the world if I could fit those 3 bags into 1 bag?

****UPDATE****
You know, that Skip Hop Dash Deluxe diaper bag is cuuuute. But it’s also $55. I think we should take that moolah and apply it to something that’s going to be more practical. And leathah’. See: http://digital-photography-school.com/what’s-your-bag-a-quest-for-the-perfect-womans-camera-bag

We saw this cute envelope clutch at Urban Outfitters over the weekend and we (my friends and I) all loved it. After inspecting it, I realized it would be super easy to make. I haven’t had good luck working with vinyl/pleather so I’m not even going to try. But I bet an upholstery weight fabric with reinforcement would work just as well.

Maybe when I’m done with the following projects….

-The sewing of 4 Crib Sheets
-The sewing of the crib skirt
-The sewing of the Stuffed Owl Pillow (or 2)
-The sewing of a Small Blanket/Quilt from leftover fabric
-The sewing of 2 large Floor Pillows
-The sewing of 2 slings (or 3)
-The never ending basket spray-painting project
-About 4 hours worth of sewing/repair work on some closet draperies (bane of my existence at the moment)
-The painting of the hanging nursery mobile
-More general sprucing and completing of the nursery on a whole
-Posting on this blog!
-and more! (See: Grace Leigh Photography)

….I can try making this envelope clutch. Which means I will probably be getting around to this sometime in 2011.

I need* this. I think I will make some sort of handbag/tote with it.

I also need this.

I’m fairly certain I need to make a sling out of this.

I think I need a tote made out of this. Or a sling. Or anything at all.

I’m sure I can come up with a “need” for this too.

And speaking of slings, almost every one I have seen in stores/online are quite dismal. I scrounged around the net looking for fabrics that 1.) I would like to wear on my body and 2.) would actually go with my wardrobe. I’d still like to find a couple more fabric options that are neutral in color but have a more modern and geometric print. For now, here are a few choices:

*Please substitute the word “want” for “need”.